United States v. Colton Marble Lime Company Same

These were two suits brought by the United States,-in the one case against the Colton Marble & Lime Company, O. T. Dyer, _____ Archibald, and W. S. Wilson, and in the other against the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and others. Decrees were entered dismissing the bills, and the United States appealed. Reversed.

Statement by Mr. Justice BREWER:

These cases are similar in many respect, to those of U.S. v. Railroad Co., 13 Sup. Ct. Rep. 152, just decided. The lands involved are within the granted limits of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and the indemnity limits of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Company; and the contention on the part of the government is that, because they were within such indemnity limits, they were not of the lands granted, or intended to be granted, to the Southern Pacific Company. In the first, the defendants claim under the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, and are charged to be committing trespasses upon the lands, and the relief sought is, as in the two prior cases, to quiet the title of the plaintiff, and to restrain the trespasses. In the second, a patent has been issued, and the legal title conveyed to the railroad company, and the relief sought is the cancellation of that patent, and a decree establishing the title of the government. In this case there is a further contention on the part of the government, and that is that the lands were sub judice at the time of the definite location of the Southern Pacific Company's road, inasmuch as they were within the exterior boundaries of a Mexican land grant known as the'Rancho San Jose,' as those boundaries were marked on the surface of the ground by one of two official surveys, the accuracy of neither of which had then been determined. Decrees were entered below in favor of the defendants, dismissing the bills, from which decrees the government has appealed to this court. See 39 Fed. Rep. 132; 40 Fed. Rep. 611; 45 Fed. Rep. 596; 46 Fed. Rep. 683.

Mr. Justice Field and Mr. Justice Gray, dissenting.

Asst. Atty. Gen. Maury and ''Jos. H. Call,'' for appellant.

James C. Carter, G. Wiley Wells, J. A. Anderson, and ''Geo. W. Merrill,'' for appellees.

Mr. Justice BREWER, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.